Rule 12
by undomiel8
Summary: When the investigation of the murder of a Petty Officer First Class leads to the kidnapping of one of the A team, will they be able to save one of their own? Rated T for innuendos and some future violence. Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: The only characters I own are the ones you don't recognize. Everything else belongs to Don Bellisario.

Chapter 1:

"McGeek!" Tony stepped out of the elevator and made his way across the room with a guilty look on his face. McGee glanced up from his computer and shook his head before looking back at the screen; whatever Tony wanted couldn't possibly be good. But McGee couldn't ignore him for much longer because before he knew it, Tony was leaning over the top of the computer.

"What do you want, Tony?" McGee didn't have the patience to deal with Tony that day. He was probably just trying to piss him off anyway.

"Listen, I was wondering – "

"Tony, I'm busy. What do you want?"

"You…wouldn't happen to have…those pictures…of Ziva, would you?..."

McGee looked at him for a moment before bursting into laughter. "You can't be serious." McGee flashed back to Ziva catching him with the pictures on his computer and gave an involuntary shudder at her death threats if he didn't delete them.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Yes, I'm serious. Do you have them or not?" He didn't have time to deal with Probie when Ziva could come back at any moment…or Gibbs, for that matter. "Come on, Probie. Help a guy out."

"Why do you want them so bad, Tony? I thought you didn't want them."

"Of course I don't want them when she's standing _right there_. But she's not there right now…So give 'em to me!" Tony was getting desperate. He didn't want McGee to have this tidbit of probable black mail, but _damn_ he wanted those pictures. Ziva in a bikini…Looking hott…And…

"What's in it for _me_, DiNosy? After all, I can't give you this valuable collector's item without some sort of compensation." McGee smirked as he said this. Making Tony sweat was the most fun he had all morning. After all, it was that or war games on the internet and for some reason Iraq wasn't giving him any troubles that morning.

"McGeek, come on. With all my luck…no. I know that as soon as I say it, one of them is going to walk around the corner." Tony sighed and watched McGee for a moment before, "Whatdoyouwant,Timothy?" came out of his mouth quickly and quietly.

"What do _I_ want? Wow, Tony…You must be desperate…" McGee pretended to think another moment, and then glanced around for any sign of Gibbs or Ziva. After a moment, he responded, "Servant. For a week."

"You can't be serious!" Tony almost yelled this and a few heads looked over towards him. Tony waved them off saying, "Nothing to see over here. Everyone just…go back to your knitting."

"Wow, Tony. A Harry Potter reference. You're expanding your horizons."

"Can it, McGeek…I'm thinking…" Servant for a week to Timothy McGee...As long as he didn't have to call him "boss" it couldn't be _too_ bad…could it?

"Well, Tony? I'm pretty sure they'll be back any-"

"No! As soon as you say that one of them will pop up behind me. I want to see how long I can go without getting slapped today."

"Then make up your mind!" McGee could see the wheels turning in Tony's head. To agree or disagree? After another minute of wandering, Tony seemed to crack.

"Alright, alright! I'll do it. Give them to me." Tony couldn't believe what he had just said. But…well…it was going to be worth it. He watched as McGee minimized the Internet ("Cool it, Tony…I'm getting there…") and pulled up a picture file. Tony tried not to drool as the first of four or five pictures popped up and, one by one, McGee sent them to the printer under his desk. DiNozzo was almost bouncing with anticipation as the final picture came out of the printer. But just as Tony moved to grab them, McGee got there first.

"Come on, McGee…"

"Tony, calm down…One last catch."

"You have to be kidding."

"Nope. Ziva catches you and I had nothing to do with this. You got onto my computer while I was in the bathroom and printed them yourself. I like my eyes and hands where they are."

Tony nodded and grabbed at the papers. "Fine, fine. Now hand them over." He grabbed at them once more before snatching them away from Tim. "Thanks, Probie!" He almost bounced back to his desk as he rifled through the pictures. But at the last second…

"You are in a good mood this morning, Tony. Good night?"

DiNozzo jumped and shoved the pictures facedown into his desk as he heard Ziva's voice. She hadn't seen the pictures…had she? "Yeah. Uh, yeah. You should've been there Ziva." He paused and then shook his head. "Maybe it's better you weren't. I don't think she's into that."

"Really? And what would _that_ be, Tony?" Ziva raised her eyebrow and leaned against Tony's desk. He seemed concerned about something. What had she caught him at? "I thought you liked exciting women, not timid ones."

"Are you offering something there, Ziva?" Tony raised his own eyebrow and eyed her intently.

"Stop sexually harassing my agents, DiNozzo." Tony's head bobbed forward as Gibbs slapped the back of his head and rounded into view.

"Right, boss."

Ziva smirked and walked over to her own desk and sat at her chair. Before she could get too comfortable, however, Gibbs was grabbing his keys from the desk drawer. "Let's go." DiNozzo, Ziva, and McGee grabbed their own bags and followed Gibbs to the elevator. As the doors closed, McGee spoke up.

"What's going on, boss?"

Gibbs watched the floors change and answered, "Petty Officer First Class found dead in her apartment." Gibbs was concerned about this case. Something just didn't seem…right. There was more to it, he knew, he just didn't know _what_.

The elevator doors opened and the team stepped out to go find the van. It was going to be a long day.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

"What've we got, boss?" Tony and Ziva came up behind Gibbs and McGee as they approached the yellow tape. McGee was wandering with the camera, snapping pictures at any pool of blood or bit of disarray. Ziva looked over as Ducky inspected the body of the young Petty Officer.

"Blunt force trauma to the head…various lacerations to the torso…bruised limbs…Jethro, this young woman was beaten to death." Ducky looked up to Gibbs and shook his head. "This poor woman put up quite a struggle. It just doesn't seem to have been enough…" He motioned around the room. The lamps from the tables were on the floor, one broken. Another end table was flipped over with a cracked leg. There were several foam chunks from the couch littering the floor.

Gibbs turned to Ziva. "I want swabs of every pool of blood for Abby. If there was a fight, this might not all be hers." Ziva nodded and headed for the bags. "DiNozzo!"

"Yeah, boss?" Tony's voice sounded from the bedroom. There was soft slamming as well; Tony was going for the drawers.

"I want ID, anything you can-"

"Boss! I've got an ID. And some credit cards. Military ID…Driver's license…" Tony reappeared in the living room and handed the wallet over to Gibbs…as Gibbs ripped it out of his hands. He handed Tony the finger printing kit in exchange. "Get going."

Tony nodded and turned away. "Right, boss."

Gibbs looked at the IDs. _Jennifer Lowe._

"Well, Jethro. She's been dead about 16 hours. I'd say in age range, she's about-"

"How about 24, Duck?"

"Well…yes…I was just about to…How did you?..."

Gibbs held up the Military ID and smiled. "I had a hunch."

Ducky laughed and went back to the body. "Yes. Well, that may have slightly been considered cheating, Jethro." He checked over the body once more and called for Palmer. Jimmy appeared his glasses slightly askew.

"Yes, Doctor?"

"Mr. Palmer. Please bring up the body bag and gurney. It will be easier to inspect this body in the lab." Ducky turned back to Gibbs and said, "I hope you can find something, Jethro. This young woman needs solace even in death."

Gibbs nodded as Ducky and Jimmy loaded up Jennifer Lowe into the body bag and gurney and rolled her out the door. The others continued to work, swabbing, photographing, or dusting. Ziva and Tony were working close by, swapping theories.

"Perhaps there was a burglary. Petty Officer Lowe put up a fight and the thief had enough of it." Ziva swabbed a blood stain on the couch before moving on to a table.

"Or maybe her husband was a wife beater." Tony dusted the same table as Ziva finished with the swab.

"Nice try, DiNozzo." Gibbs stood behind him. "ID says she was single."

Tony was about to respond, but he was cut off by McGee. "Hey, Tony. The battery died in the camera."

"Yeah. So?" Tony was now dusting one of the lamps.

"I need a new battery." McGee was smiling wickedly. Well, as wickedly as he could while still looking somewhat innocent.

"So get one your-" _Dammit. _"Hey, why don't I grab one?" Tony set down the fingerprinting kit and went to find the camera bag. Ziva looked up at Gibbs and motioned to the two men.

"Did that…" Ziva shook her head a second. "Did Tony just go help McGee? Willingly?"

Gibbs shrugged. "It's weird. But I'm not pushing it." Tony dug through the bag, looking for a spare battery. _It's worth it. It's worth it. Hot Ziva. Hot Ziva. It's all worth it…_ Tony repeated this mantra to himself, attempting to keep his hands from finding their way around McGee's neck.

Gibbs was inspecting the rubble around the room. "DiNozzo! Get over here." He was crouched down, investigating the edge of a broken lamp.

"Ok, boss. Just a min-"

"_Now_, DiNozzo. I don't have all day." He wasn't in the mood to deal with Tony's antics. There was something about this death that wasn't quite right, but he couldn't place what was wrong.

Tony shot a look of laughter to McGee and threw him the battery. "Here ya go, Timmy." Grabbing the fingerprinting kit, he walked over to Gibbs and knelt next to him. "What've we got, boss?" He noticed what looked like blood on the broken edge, but he wasn't sure if that's what Gibbs was looking at.

"Blood. I want a fingerprint and swab of this thing." When only Tony moved, Gibbs cleared his throat and repeated, louder, "_And a swab of this thing_." Still just Tony. "_ZIVA!"_

Ziva jumped from the broken picture frame she had been swabbing and hurried over to the other table. "Yes, boss. Sorry." She gave him a small smile that turned into a small grimace. "This lamp."

"Ya think?" Gibbs slapped both Ziva and Tony before turning on McGee. "You almost done with that thing?" He watched as McGee photographed everything. Rolling his eyes, he waited as McGee took picture after picture. Unlike the others, McGee answered quickly.

"Yeah, boss. Just a few…more…" The camera clicked a few more times. He wanted every angle he could get. But before he could photograph the frame again, Gibbs grabbed the camera.

"Stop being a kiss ass and help those two swab and print." He wanted answers. Fast. "I don't care what it takes, I want an answer to this. Now."

Tony wanted to say something, but Ziva shook her head and grabbed his hand. "Not now, Tony…" Little did Ziva know, Tony felt his entire hand warm when she touched him. Not that he _wanted_ her to know. That was a little secret he felt like keeping to himself.

Gibbs looked around the room. The total disarray would disappear soon when the crime scene cleaners appeared. "You almost done?" Gibbs checked his watch and then looked out the window. He needed to talk to Ducky. He wanted to know what was going on. Why was this case eating at him? It was like a bad itch…he didn't know where it was coming from, but there it was; a terminal annoyance. Looking back at his team, he said, "Finish up. Meet me back at the squadroom."

As Gibbs turned and left, Ziva waited for the door to close before asking, "What's got his coat?"

"Goat." Tony shook his head. "I'm not really sure. It's like he knew her…" He looked back at the spot on the floor where they had found Jessica.

"Tony!" Tony turned to see McGee holding a picture, straightening up from behind the couch. "I think the military ID didn't know about him."


End file.
